Coucou is the new kid on the block, and one that makes you raise an eyebrow or two.
Who's behind it? What's the cuisine, exactly? A little Thai, a little Japanese, a little Italian (Itameshi) AND a tasting menu with the playfulness of a wine bar and a chef's counter?
Just as you're trying to make sense of this seemingly foreign, slightly hard-to-define concept, you discover that Coucou has taken up residence in the former Extraordinary (sigh of familiar relief), where a newly-arrived chef has joined forces with the same owner to breathe new life into the now-defunct wine bar, which has already undergone two changes in ownership and design.
Perhaps the third time's a charm.
For many, Coucou might seem a little out of left field
Especially in a dining scene where the narrative in recent years has largely revolved around celebrating local ingredients, reimagining Vietnamese cuisine and taking it global, fuelled by the award-winning success of restaurants like Anan, Ciel, Upstairs and Gia.
So naturally, a Dutch chef with Chinese roots arriving in Vietnam to serve up a mishmash of modern Asian flavours, drawing from Thai, Japanese and even Malaysian cuisines, is bound to raise a few eyebrows. But, Coucou isn't quite the outlier it first appears to be.
Over the past year, Saigon has welcomed a growing number of foreign chef-led concepts exploring flavours beyond Vietnamese cuisine, from Lys (French fine dining at The Reverie by the good guys at Hong Kong-based ZS Hospitality Group that opened this October) to Voyage (French-Japanese fine dining by Chef Jonathan Koh) and Vie Infinity (modern Japanese). Safe to say, it's an interesting shift in a dining scene that has been so focused on redefining Vietnamese cuisine, and one that makes Akuna and Albion by Kirk Westaway, once among the few foreign chef-led restaurants charting a different course, feel a little less lonely these days.
Who is co-founder and Head Chef Kevin Lin?
At the helm is Dutch-born chef Kelvin Lin, formerly of Nayolie in the Netherlands, which earned Gault&Millau's Asian Restaurant of the Year accolade in 2020. Of Chinese heritage, Lin trained in Japan before moving to Singapore where he became acquainted with the bold, spice-driven flavours of Southeast Asia. Returning to the Netherlands, he eventually made a name for himself at Nayolie, developing a progressive Asian cooking style that drew freely from Japanese, Thai, Singaporean and Malaysian cuisines.
During a trip to Vietnam, Lin happened to stay at a hotel opposite Extraordinary and, seeing potential in the space, decided to bring his culinary philosophy from Nayolie to Saigon, which exaplains the seemingly eclectic menu.
What might initially seem like an arbitrary collision of cuisines is, in fact, a reflection of Lin's own culinary journey across Europe, Japan, Southeast Asia and now Vietnam. French techniques meet Japanese ingredients, Southeast Asian flavours and Italian influences, with even a dedicated itameshi (Japanese-Italian) section on the menu.
Think oysters with lemongrass and miso beurre blanc, burrata given an itameshi (Japanese-Italian) treatment with tomato gelato, yuzu-ponzu-wasabi and katsuobushi, or smoked Wagyu tartare with perilla, seaweed and bone marrow hollandaise. Even familiar Asian classics are reinterpreted, from a deconstructed Tom Kha Kai (highly recommend) to Banban Ji dressed in miso-sesame sauce.
Don't be fooled by Coucou's playful wine bar concept, branding or menu.
There's nothing casual about the food menu. Behind it lies considerable creativity that not only brings together familiar flavours and dishes from different cuisines together but reimagines the textures, presentations and formats that they are presented in making every dish a new experience and surprising on many levels while still keeping it simple and easy to understand. And of course, together with thoughtful wine pairings.
The menu is compact, with just a handful of dishes, but I'd highly recommend the tasting menu for two at just VND 1,500,000, which almost feels too good to be true. And definitely opt for the wine pairing, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It's rare to come across a chef who's also WSET-certificed, and with Chef Kelvin Lin, you can tell the wine was not just an afterthought but one that definitely adds to the experience. And, it definitely did.
If there's one thing I'd love to see Coucou develop further, it's the dining experience. The space sits somewhere between a playful wine bar and a more serious restaurant, when the food itself deserves to be treated as a dining destination rather than a neighbourhood wine bar for a glass and bites.
Though, Chef Kelvin himself has said, "I don't want to be a fine dining restaurant," preferring to keep things casual, easy and uncomplicated. And I get it. I'm certainly not one for lengthy menu descriptions or having every dish overexplained. But when almost every dish brings something unexpected, you can't help wanting to know the how, the why and the what behind it all.
It's the kind of cooking that makes you wish you were seated at a chef's counter, picking the chef's brain and hearing the stories behind each creation. Perhaps a first for me in Saigon, where I actually left wanting more, not necessarily more food, but more of the experience itself. More stories, more conversations and certainly more dishes to look forward to as Coucou's menu evolves.
Or perhaps that's Coucou's maverick spirit at work, challenging conventions not just on the plate, but in the dining experience itself. Who knows? One thing's for sure: Coucou is incredibly refreshing and creative. Plus it helps that the menu is very well-priced.
In a Nutshell
A casual dining restaurant where the food is nothing but casual but seriously creative. Helmed by Dutch-born chef Kelvin Lin, Coucou marries French and Japanese techniques with Southeast Asian flavours and spices in unexpected ways, with thoughtful wine pairings. The menu may be small, which makes the 1,5 million vnd (58 USD) tasting menu a steal. Casual in concept, ambitious on the plate, and easily one of Saigon's most refreshing new dining experiences.
Opening Times: 530pm to 1130pm (1am on weekends), closed on Mondays
Address: 39 Đ. Nguyễn Cừ, An Khánh, Thao Dien
Average Spend: 1,500,000 vnd per person (tasting menu), a la carte options available
To reserve: https://www.instagram.com/coucousaigon/
